What Stubborn really meansSQW:CanonDivergenceAU
by ShadowDianne
Summary: The fourth one! "So did I, and next time you want to thank me let's try not to fall into a hole"


SwanQueenWeek 4.- CanonDivergence AU

What stubborn really means

"Let me do it" Emma said, her voice harsh and pleading as the mayor stood in front of her, body as tense as a violin cord, eyes blazing with pain as they made holes into Emma's mind, the fear and worry inside of them real and tangible.

"_After I rescue you we are going to talk about a few things, kid"_ She thought briefly as Regina looked at her for a few seconds more, her eyes glistening with unspent tears.

It was then when the woman approached her, their bodies almost touching, the brunette's breath and scent hitting Emma as they washed over her, making her blink as she tried to understand what had just happened and what Regina had uttered before moving towards Marco.

It was too late for Emma to realize that what the brunette had told her was "I will do this Miss Swan" but she still could see how the mayor put the harness around her frame and how Marco and the rest of the guys instructed the brunette how to pull and call for help in case it was needed.

When Emma opened her mouth to protest Regina looked directly at her as she was being helped, her eyes locking with her own ones, showing something far deeper that what Emma had already seen in the brunette: fear, desperation, protectiveness, love, care. It wasn't about being a better mother or who carried Henry away from that hole, it was trust in each other and right now it was Emma who needed to trust Regina.

Even if she still thought that between Regina and herself the best option was her.

As the mayor's body slowly disappeared in the hole she felt anxiousness forming in her stomach, fear lurking inside of her as she forced her throat to swallow, mad at her own mind for conjuring up images of a bloodied Regina and a lost Henry.

She paced in front of the hole, not quite ready to peek above the border and take a look, voices and exclamations the ones that helped her to dillucidate what was happening.

After a good five minutes she could heard Regina's muffled voice coming from the dark, Henry's and Doctor's Hopper voices also mingling with hers as the men and women in the exterior smiled and cheered.

Just as the rope started to move they heard startled screams from the bottom of the hole, Regina's worried voice resonating in Emma's ears. Forcing herself to take a look from the edge of it, she saw darkness until Henry's face, as well as Regina's and Archie's, were visible as they hung from the rope, a loud sound filling the air for a second before dying. Apparently they had lost foot.

"The rope won't hold forever" Muttered Emma to herself as she saw Regina's strained face as the brunette made her muscles hold Henry's weight as well as her own, the doctor Hopper trying his best to be useful as he hold himself from the rope.

Emma was about to turn and ask Ruby to move the truck as fast as she could when another blood-freezing noise could be heard from the hole making the blonde turn back her neck so fast that she heard a faint crack as she strained her eyes, trying to see what was happening at the bottom of the darkness, way past the three faces that she could distinguish.

"Are you ok?" Asked, her voice trembling with fear, something that she hadn't expected and she was relieved when both Henry and Regina nodded frantically at her as Doctor Hopper only managed to pant, his hands visible trembling from where Emma was standing.

"The elevator fell!" Answered the dark haired boy and Emma frowned at that, noticing the look of fear than the stubborn mayor sported on her eyes as she raised them, holding Emma in the spot for a second before looking away.

At that moment Marco, who had been talking quietly with the men that were helping him, approached and peeked over the edge of the hole, his accented voice booming in the narrowed place.

"We are going to move the truck Madam Mayor, hold still"

Regina only nodded, her usual cold and hard eyes now pleading as the rope began to move, something that made Emma smile a little as the three explorers seemed to being able to walk away from that nightmare.

The first one was Henry, who climbed the rope with his mother's help and was helped by Emma herself as Regina's eyes and hers met again for a brief second before Archie was helped out and Henry moved at Emma's side, his face covered with dust and perspiration but fine.

Just as Regina was beginning to be helped by a solicitous Graham Emma sensed that something wasn't right. It was the same sensorial feeling that she had when she knew that someone was lying to her, something that she had used to when she had lived on the streets, a shift in the air, a change. And as soon as she felt it she saw the rope giving away, making Regina fall down the hole without anything to hold her body plummeting to the darkness.

Emma barely heard Henry's scream or the exclamations of terror that all the citizens present collectively did but just as Regina's body and face disappeared from sight she turned to Marco.

"I need another rope" Stated, her eyes turning hard emeralds when the man only gave a silent sigh as he signaled at the hole.

"It's too late, she probably is at the bottom and we don't know where that is"

Emma clenched her teeth, the woman as a pain in the ass and more than a little wicked if she needed to be truthful with herself, but she was also Henry's mother one way or another and she certainly didn't deserve to die. Even if the whole Storybrooke didn't seem to care. Turning her body at Graham she raised her chin accusatorily as the man only looked at the hole with despair, remanding Emma of a boy without his favorite candy.

"I'm going down there whether you help me or not, we are the law Graham, we must protect the people in this town and the mayor is one of those, even if she is…. Not there anymore I'm going to go so someone give me another rope" She felt speechless with herself since she have never saw any emotions because of someone but she really couldn't leave Regina's body down there if the brunette had really fall until she had hit the bottom, for all what they knew the woman could have found some kind of rock in which she was holding into.

Searching Henry she found him talking with Doctor Hopper, he seemed floored but the man was holding him in place and as she bit her lower lip and put the rope around her body she thought about talking to the kid. She really didn't know what to say to him so she simply nodded at Ruby who moved the truck once again while she entered the hole.

Soon enough the light from the outside dimmed considerably as well as the voices of the ones who were trying to guide her.

"Regina?" She screamed, trying to capture something from the older woman. "Regina, are you there?"

She kept descending, her lungs starting to notice the lack of pure air and making her slightly dizzy as she tried to hold on the rope as more and more light seemed to be sucked away by the dark rocks that surrounded her. She wasn't claustrophobic but the deafening silence that encircled her was starting to make her nervous.

"Regina? Please, answer me!" Screamed once again as she started to question her sanity. The woman seemed to be gone and she was now down there, at who knew how much feet under the ground trying to save her or whatever it was left. "I'm going nuts" Thought for a moment before shake her head. She was going to found her, the brunette needed as much.

Just as she was starting to wonder how deep the mines were when she heard something at some point below her.

At first she was startled by it, her mind already used to the silence that came from the thick rocks, but as her ears grew accustomed by it she could almost discern words from it.

Maybe the brunette wasn't death after all.

"Regina?" Asked the blonde again, her long legs kicking as she tried to move the rope to her right, the sound coming from there and as relief washed over her she heard the sound again, seeming to answer to her call with another of its own.

She was starting to grow weary when she saw the little rock in which the brunette was standing, her breath labored as she had one hand over her ribs, the half of the rope that had fallen with her laying useless at her feet as she tried to keep standing, the hole too dark to discern anything else.

"Miss Swan?" Asked the woman as the blonde pulled the rope hard, sending the signal that they needed to stop to the ones outside.

"Really? Still calling me that?" Emma asked trying to bring humor to the situation as she touched the mayor's arm. The woman was trembling and her breath was ragged, the clothes that she had been wearing torn in a few places and the silhouette of her body nearly collapsed when Emma finally landed in the rock that had served to support herself to the other woman until now.

"What else would you want… me to call you?" Answered Regina and Emma smiled, relieved to see that the brunette looked fine enough to answer to their usual banter.

"For instance Emma is a good start" Replied back as she blindly touched the other woman's body, trying to discern if something was broken. She wasn't a doctor but she had seen enough bar fights to know where she needed to look to find broken ribs or limbs. "What happened?" Asked, worried that Regina was suffering from some short of concussion.

"After what seemed to be hours I crashed against this rock that, surprisingly, held my body. I was starting to think if it was a good idea to try to find a way to keep going down when I heard your screams. Is a miracle that the hole hadn't collapsed by now" Was the reply, the brunette's voice quivering from time to time as Emma finally found what appeared to be a few broken ribs.

"Well, is a miracle that you are like this" Replied Emma without thinking, happy to see that the older woman not only seemed fine but with good possibilities of survival.

"Thank you" Came the full of sarcasm reply as Emma tied part of her rope around Regina's waist, the voice coming muffled as the woman coughed violently, the rock trembling a little under their feet as the brunette did it.

"Ok, hold still" Murmured Emma as the rock trembled again. Regina nodded against the younger woman's body and the blonde felt how the little movement gave her the calm that she needed to end up tying the rope and giving another pull.

Just as they were being lift the rock crashed against the bottom of the hole, the air rancid as they started to ascend, the movement making Emma slightly dizzy.

"Are you feeling well?" She murmured against Regina who seemed not to realize that her hands were grasping Emma's tank top as she had her face buried on the crook of the blonde's neck.

Regina nodded but another cough and wince made the younger woman started to look worried at the little light that shone above them. They were too deep but now that the rescue was in the last part the older woman seemed to be getting worse. Maybe it had been a bad idea to move her from the rock. Even if the rock itself wasn't safe.

"Listen, we are almost here" She lied as Regina's labored breath tickled her skin "Just a few minutes and then I promise you that I'm going to listen to whatever insults you want to throw at me"

Regina didn't answer to that and Emma needed to suppress the need to tug the rope again, the woman needed medical attention and the blonde wasn't sure anymore if she had felt three broken ribs or four. And surely she didn't know if they had pierced the lungs.

"Thank you" Muttered Regina as Emma started to panic. The younger woman looked at Regina's head and squeezed her eyes shit as she forced herself to respond, the fear taking its toll on her mind as the entrance of the hole seemed to be farther than she had suspected.

"I'm a deputy, it's what we do" Answered after a few moments and when Regina laughed she cringed, hearing the difficulties that the brunette had to keep breathing normally.

"We both know that it's not something that anyone would have done it. So thank you Miss Swan, it was very brave"

Emma shrugged as she tried to say something to the coughing woman, the feverish heat of her forehead starting to become noticeable against her chest.

"You were brave going down the first time" Said making Regina laugh curtly at that as the light in the hole started to became bigger.

"I did what I needed to do"

Emma closed her eyes and kissed the brunette's head as they finally started to hear voices, the edge of the hole just a few feet away.

"So did I, and next time you want to thank me let's try not to fall into a hole"

Just as Marco's and Henry's voices made both of them look before them Regina muttered something under her breath, the tone playful enough that made Emma's heart swell with something close to happiness.

"Next time is going to be you who will thank me"


End file.
